It is very important for students to manage their time well in order to stay afloat during the course of a semester. Without good time management, your deadlines pile up, your stress level will skyrocket, and your grades will likely plummet. Below are five time management tips every student should know to help keep their semester productive and enjoyable.
1. Prioritize Tasks with a To-Do List
To-do lists are among the best and easiest ways to remain organized. Make a to-do list for each day or week. Restructure your tasks into bite-sized chunks and prioritize them according to your list. A good way to prioritize is by using the Eisenhower Matrix, which helps categorize tasks into the following categories:
- Important and urgent: Do these first!
- Important but not urgent: Schedule time to do them.
- Urgent but not important: Delegate if possible.
- Neither urgent nor important: These can be postponed or avoided.
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2. Use Time-Blocking to Structure Your Day
Time-blocking is a practice that means defining blocks of time throughout the day to work on specific tasks. Instead of doing an assignment for “however long”, time-blocking essentially gives each task a time slot. For instance, you could schedule 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to write an essay and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for a biology project. This way, you will be on track and not waste time. Having a time block for different things makes you more likely to become overwhelmed with your assignments.
3. Avoid Multitasking
While many people think that multitasking will enable them to accomplish more in less time, but research actually indicates that it decreases productivity and leads to increased error. It’s common for rapid shifting between work tasks to lead to distraction and poor quality or incomplete output. Instead, you should be focused on one task at a time and give it your all. Get it done and move on to the next one. This is going to produce higher quality work, and it often lets you complete work more quickly.
4. Take Regular Breaks
Long hours of work with no rest can cause burnout and reduced productivity. You need frequent, energy and concentration-restoring breaks throughout your day. Try the Pomodoro Technique. It dictates having 25 minutes of work followed by a 5-minute rest. After four such periods (Called Pomodoros), you take a longer break of between 15 to 30 minutes. This strategy recharges your brain and staves off exhaustion.
5. Learn to Say No
As a student, you often face many competing demands on your time, from academics to parties. You may want to agree to everything but must learn to say no occasionally. Don’t overwork yourself. If you are preparing for a new job or working on a serious assignment, ensure you don’t take on more than you can chew. If not, decline any less important commitments. That said, sometimes you have several important and complex assignments to do at once, and you get stressed. In such a case, it may be best to outsource some of them to an essay-writing service. Check out this review and see if UKWritings can help lighten your workload. Remember, it’s okay to put your health ahead of anything else.
Take Control of Your Time
Time management is something you can work on and improve. By organizing your work, devoting time to one task at a time, avoiding distractions, taking breaks, and learning to say no, you’ll be well on your way to a well-rounded semester. With such simple changes, you’ll be able to control your time and achieve higher grades.
